WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development
Print ISSN: 1790-5079
E-ISSN: 2224-3496
Volume 8, 2012
Issue 1, Volume 8, January 2012
Title of the Paper: Design and implementation of methodologies for transport (CIVITAS SUCCESS) project(s) impact measurements
Authors: C?t?lin Popescu, Augustin Mitu, Daniela Uta
Abstract: In order to assess the impact a European project has at the European Community level, specific methodologies should be developed and implemented according to the specifics of the evaluated project. A framework for this methodology is available within the projects’ sector but every program and every project through its implementation team has to build its own instruments and adapt the European guidelines into a new methodology. In CIVITAS SUCCESS project, by definition, a transport and mobility project, a European organism (GUARD) was assigned to monitor the design, implementation and actual evaluation of the developed methodology. The evaluation and dissemination of the projects is based on how well the methodology is realized. In the case of CIVITAS SUCCESS project the methodological instruments used, led to results that changed the partners cities life.
Keywords: methodological instruments, evaluation, transport and mobility project, transport indicators, city life, framework, impact, specific results
Title of the Paper: Entrepreneurship in the Environmentally Friendly and Economically Sound Renewable Energy Conversion System
Authors: Bhagwan Shree Ram, M. Selvaraj
Abstract: Energy is the prime mover of economic growth and is vital to the sustenance of a modern economy. Future economic growth crucially depends on the long-term availability of energy from sources that are affordable, accessible and environmentally friendly. During the last few decades a number of governments have started to increase their focus on clean and renewable energy sources. Wind energy is one of the vital inputs for the social and economic development of India. It supplies affordable, inexhaustible energy to the economy. The growth of renewable energy has been fuelled by increased awareness of both public and private entrepreneurship in wind energy conversion system. This technical research paper deals with a mission to combat unemployment and improve urban environment with the help of entrepreneurship in wind energy conversion systems in India.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Economic growth, Green energy, Wind energy conversion system
Title of the Paper: Assessing Quality of an Irrigation Canal Ecosystem, Through Water and Sediment Environmental Parameters. A Case Study in Thessaly Region, Greece
Authors: Augoustinos Augoustis, Marianthi Hatziioannou, Savas Papadopoulos, Dimitrios Kateris, Christos Neofytou, Dimitrios Vafidis
Abstract: This study aimed to record and evaluates the physicochemical parameters (Na^+, K^+, C?^-, Ca^2+, Mg^2+, electrical conductivity, SO4^2-, total alkalinity, CO3^2- and HCO^3-) and give heavy metals (Cr, Pd, Ni, Cu, and Cd) in sediment Asmaki canal in order to assess the quality of irrigation water used and the nature of pollution along the canal in relation the Sodium Absorption Radio (SAR), the percentage Sodium (Na %) with the help of the Piper diagram. Samples were collected and analyzed bimonthly in May, July and September, at twelve sampling sites along the irrigation-drainage Asmaki canal for two consecutive years (2008 – 2009). We observed increased concentrations of nutrients due to anthropogenic inputs, mainly because of the discharged contaminating waters from the large industrial and agricultural activity.
Keywords: Water quality, Sodium Absorption Radio, Sodium percentage, Piper diagramme
Issue 2, Volume 8, April 2012
Title of the Paper: Support System Based on GIS and Weighted Sum Method for Drawing Up of Land Suitability Map for Agriculture – Application to Durum Wheat Cultivation in the Region of Tiaret in Algeria
Authors: A. Mendas, A. Delali
Abstract: Due to the observed decreasing farmlands, it is important to identify the best lands useful for a sustainable agriculture (a productive and profitable agriculture that protects the environment and that is socially equitable). This identification is resulted in the development of land suitability maps for agriculture by combining several factors of various natures and of unequal importance. Spatial analysis approaches, based on the concepts of the weighted sum, combined with a Geographical Information System (GIS) offer the possibility to determine this type of maps. Indeed, GIS is a powerful tool for analyzing spatial data and establishing a process for decision support. The functions of the weighted sum shall make it possible to assign numerical weights, to distinguish between positive and negative criteria and to rank alternatives. A spatial decision support system has been developed for establishing the land suitability map for agriculture. It incorporates a version of the weighted sum method SAW (Simple Additive Weighting), applicable to the vector data model, in ArcGIS without leaving the GIS program package environment. This approach has been tested on Tiaret (Algeria) to assess the land suitability for the durum wheat agriculture. The parameters and the classification system used in this work are inspired from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) approach dedicated to a sustainable agriculture. The coherence of results confirms the system effectiveness.
Keywords: suitability for agriculture, FAO classification, Geographical Information System, spatial analysis, weighted sum, Algeria
Title of the Paper: Field Study of Solar Bowl Under Malaysian Tropical Climate
Authors: K. M. Ng, N. M. Adam, B. Z. Azmi, M. A. Wahab, M. Y. Sulaiman
Abstract: Results of a field study of a solar bowl operating under Malaysian tropical condition are presented. A total of 40 days data was collected over a period of four months. The solar bowl was capable of concentrating high amount of heat during solar noon up to about ± 20o zenith angular deviation. The maximum temperature achieved was more than 200 oC. For global irradiance of less than 400 W/m2, the temperature developed along the receiver was less than 100 oC. A correlation between the concentration ratio and the slope of the temperature–direct irradiance curve is presented which indicates that a high concentration solar collector has better potential in tropical area at the sampling time. The simulated maximum concentration ratio was 95 and together with the empirical observation, solar bowl concentrator should be able to produce power under Malaysian tropical climate.
Keywords: Field study, solar bowl, tropical climate, concentration ratio
Title of the Paper: An Adaptive Nonlinear Backstepping Control of DFIG Driven by Wind Turbine
Authors: Nihel Khemiri, Adel Khedher, Mohamed Faouzi Mimouni
Abstract: In this paper we present a new control structure to extract the maximum power of a wind energy conversion system based on the double fed induction generator (DFIG). The proposed algorithm combines the nonlinear Backstepping approach and the field orientation scheme applied to control the rotor side converter (RSC) and the grid side converter (GSC) of the DFIG. The proposed strategy is asymptotically stable in the context of Lyapunov theory. Simulations results show interesting performances of the system in terms of the reference tracking stability and the robustness against parameters variations.
Keywords: Double fed induction generator, nonlinear Backstepping control, Lyapunov approach, voltage oriented control
Issue 3, Volume 8, July 2012
Title of the Paper: Radon Mitigation Using Heat Recovery Ventilation System in a Swedish Detached House
Authors: Keramatollah Akbari, Robert Oman
Abstract: Balanced ventilation with heat recovery has strong effects on radon mitigation and energy saving in residential buildings. This new technology enables improvement of both indoor air quality and energy efficiency without sacrificing either. Reducing radon by means of forced ventilation requires an increase in outdoor supplied air (i.e. ventilation rate), which in turn can increase energy use. Energy losses in ventilation systems are inevitable, but new technologies such as heat recovery systems make it possible to recover most of this ventilation heat loss. Heat recovery ventilation systems, which recover energy from exhaust air, can significantly reduce ventilation losses, and balancing the indoor air pressure plays a positive role in the effectiveness of ventilation to reduce and mitigate radon levels and control indoor air quality. This paper describes a case study which considers the effects of a heat recovery ventilation system on the radon concentration and energy consumption in a detached house in Stockholm, Sweden. The performance of the heat recovery ventilation system is examined with respect to radon mitigation and energy saving by measuring the radon concentration and analyzing the life cycle cost in winter. The results of the measurements and dynamic simulation showed that a heat recovery ventilation system was able to reduce the radon level from around 600 Bq.m-3 to below 100 Bq.m-3 and reduce energy loss from ventilation by 80%, equivalent to around 3500 kWh per year. The results of life cycle cost analysis used to assess total costs showed that this system is cost-effective and investment would pay for itself in 12 years. It should be noted that this saving is a representative sample, and that actual savings would be influenced by a large number of factors. IDA 4.0 Indoor Climate and Energy software was used to perform the dynamic simulations.
Keywords: Energy saving, Residential building, Heat recovery, Ventilation, Radon, IDA 4.0
Title of the Paper: A Multicriteria Model for Evaluating Conformity of Travelling Conditions for Pedestrians with Mobility Constraints
Authors: Daniel S. Rodrigues, Carolina L. Neiva, Rui A. R. Ramos
Abstract: For people with mobility constraints, the conditions offered by pedestrian environments are crucial for their ability to remain independent and self-sufficient. Mobility is also a key factor to maintain people actively involved in the community. Taking into account only the physical characteristics of urban spaces, the goal of the present work is to analyse the factors that limit the circulation of people with mobility constraints and to map those conditions in central urban spaces. The assessment was performed in agreement with the standards specified in the Portuguese Law. A multi-criteria model was developed to evaluate the compliance of urban spaces with those standards. Its integration within a GIS platform was performed in order to implement a spatial analysis of the results. A case study was conducted in a central area of the city of Braga, Portugal. Maps showing levels of compliance with the standards were produced and the results are discussed.
Keywords: Urban Planning, Planning Support Systems, Pedestrian Mobility, Circulation Map
Title of the Paper: Possible Causes of Elevated Ambient CO2 Concentration in the City of Pardubice and its Surroundings
Authors: Jaromíra Chýlková, Tomáš Brunclík, Ilona Obršálová, Kwasi Asare Baffour Danquah, Renata Šelešovská
Abstract: This paper presents the results of monitoring of air pollution concentrations of CO2 in the time period from October 2010 to April 2011. The measurement was carried out with the help of portable analyser ECOPROBE 5, which operates on the principle of measurement of IR radiation absorption. The results obtained were given more precision by means of calculations involving the effect of sensor temperature on the intensity of entering radiation. It was found out that the average CO2 concentration in air in the above-mentioned time period was 400 ppm which is 20 ppm higher than the planet-wide average. Further research of the measured data and its comparison with atmospheric dispersion model study indicate that the elevated concentrations are probably caused mostly by increasing traffic intensity. Large industrial sources in the vicinity were found to have only marginal influence on the ambient CO2 concentrations.
Keywords: carbon dioxide, air pollution, infrared analyser
Issue 4, Volume 8, October 2012
Title of the Paper: Optimal Location and Proximity Distance of Municipal Solid Waste Collection Bin Using GIS: a Case Study of Coimbatore City
Authors: R. Nithya, A. Velumani, S. R. R. Senthil Kumar
Abstract: A better Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management plans are required for developing urban cities in India. Further to facilitate MSW management, the enhanced options are to be provided for initial functions of MSW such as collection and transportation. The environmental and cost effectiveness of the functions would be achieved and analysed with adopting scientific technology like Geographical Information System (GIS). Hence, in this study GIS was used for investigating adequate number and positions of existing collection bins in one of the urban ward Sidhapudur, Coimbatore, India. The proposed numbers of collection bins were assessed according to MSW generation in the ward. Then the optimal positions were found with reference to existing bin locations, road network and population density. Moreover, based on the public preferable walking distance to drop the MSW to the collection bin, a model was developed. In this model, the three different proximity distances such as 50m, 75m and 100m around existing and proposed bins were generated and found the optimal distance. As a result, the entire area was covered by 75m distance around the collection bin with 99%. Thus, the proposed model suggested some modifications in existing system and which would recommend best possible collection services.
Keywords: Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), Collection & Transportation, Collection Bin Number and Locations, Optimal Position, Optimal Distance, Geographical Information System (GIS)
Title of the Paper: Using Spectral Descriptive Signatures for Industrial Plume Detection
Authors: Hamed Hamid Muhammed, Abdolamir Karbalaie, Mohammad Mehdi Montazeri
Abstract: This paper presents a novel approach for anomaly detection base on computing and utilizing descriptive spectral signatures. The goal of the work is to distinguish between contaminated and normal water areas within a region of investigation. A site-independent approach was developed by considering descriptive spectral signatures characterising normal sweat lake water as reference spectral features. Thereafter, it was possible to detect and determine the distribution of industrial outlet plumes which usually have spectral characteristics that deviate from the surrounding unaffected normal waters. The method was evaluated on airborne hyperspectral remotely-sensed image-data acquired over the region of Norrsundet, Sweden. In this region, areas of different water types were found, such as riverine sweet water, coastal salt seawater, as well as waste water discharged from paper-pulp industries. The work aimed at identifying these types of waters and their distributions. The needed reference descriptive spectral signatures of uncontaminated normal water were generated by using a dataset consisting of laboratory measurements of chlorophyll-a and phaeophytine-a concentrations and the corresponding field reflectance spectra collected at 22 sampling stations in Lake Erken, Sweden. The final results, showing the locations and distributions of contaminated and normal water areas, are in full agreement with field observations in the investigated region.
Keywords: Industrial plume detection, Remote sensing, Chlorophyll-a, Phaeophytine-a, Descriptive spectral signatures
Title of the Paper: Evaluating the Green Supply Chain Management using Life Cycle Assessment Approach in Uncertainty
Authors: Ming-Lang Tseng, Yong Geng
Abstract: Green supply chain management in product life cycle assessment is a complex uncertainty concept that is difficult to determine based on a firm’s real situation because measuring GSCM requires a set of qualitative measures. A set of criteria is proposed and uses a hybrid fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique to address the dependence relations of criteria in hierarchical structure with the aid of the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and analytical network process (ANP) in linguistic preferences. Fuzzy set theory is used to interpret the linguistic preference in accordance with the subjective evaluation. The evaluation results obtained through the proposed approach are for two reasons. First, the results are generated by a group of experts in the presence of motile criteria, and second, the linguistic preference approach reduces the distortion and loss of information. Managers judge the need to improve and determine which criteria provide the most effective direction towards improvement. The results and implications are discussed.
Keywords: Green supply chain management; product life cycle assessment; interpretive structural modeling; fuzzy set theory; Analytical network process
Title of the Paper: Determination of Small Size Bedload Sediment Transport and its Related Bedform under Different Uniform Flow Conditions
Authors: A. H. N. Chegini, G. Pender
Abstract: A laboratory study has explored to determine the influence of current uniform flow conditions on bedload of different small size sediment particle beds and its bed formations. The influence of uniform flow and its related near bed turbulent flow conditions on bedload sediment transport and its related bedform in relatively low, mild and steep slopes channel has been experimentally investigated. Four sediment particle sizes were evaluated in the experimental study: (1) fine sand (0.2 mm), coarse sand (1.6 mm), very coarse sand (2.8 mm), and fine grain (4.4 mm). A traditional experimental technique was developed to enable accurate performance for sediment particle transport measurement. The technique of estimating the transport rate of sediment particles is based on the trap measuring device. The trap was assessed for their efficiency by observation and photograph method. This enables the measurement of the area of the movable sediment particles to be determined by the collection of the particles in traps. The traps with an inlet width of 29 cm, a length of 15 cm and a height of 6 cm were selected to collect sediment particles. The sediment transport rates were then predicted using well known sediment transport equations. This paper presents results from the laboratory study of the effects of various uniform flows on the bedload and its related bedform of the bimodal small sediment particle beds. The experiments are based on near bed turbulent flow forces on the bed resistance. The results show that the bedload and its related bedform are occurred by increasing the value of bed slope and the ratio of water depth to sediment particle size. The results obtained from the bedload and its related bedform present clearly the difference of four used material, which are necessary for computing the risk for different values of the particle Reynolds number.
Keywords: Bedload, bedform, sediment transport, sand, near bed turbulent flow, uniform current
Title of the Paper: Chemical Characteristics of Lignite Ash from Power Plant Kosova A and Local Geological Settings in Kosova near Prishtina
Authors: Ilir Morina, Bedri Dragusha, Sami Dvorani, Frank Riesbeck
Abstract: Because of poor maintenance of the power plant (PP) Kosova A this study reports and discusses the results of reconnaissance work carried out in the vicinity of ash disposal site from PP in relation to the geochemical assessment of ash. The regional geology Kosova is rich in ore and lignite deposits. For about 100 years lignite has been exploited in one of the largest lignite deposits in Europe near Prishtina. Currently 97 % of the power demand of Kosova is generated by the power plants Kosova A and B near Prishtina. The aim of this study was to estimate environmental impacts which are caused by the ash disposal site of power plant Kosova A and to assess geological conditions within this work. The chemical and physical properties of ash differ from each other in relation to disposal age and technique. Ash and surrounding soils were analyzed for knowledge of chemical properties and mineralogy. Additional the data were analyzed to assess environmental impacts caused by ash and geology.
Keywords: Kosovo, lignite ash, lignite, heavy metals, fluorine, soil
